What is the state of the state of Maine? What issues should the Legislature focus on this year?

Don Crane, Bangor

“Pretty poor. I’ve been out of work for almost 17 months … [Maine needs] relief for mortgage holders. Right now I’m losing my house, because I can’t make the mortgage.”

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Allison Hackett, Bangor

“Definitely hard. The economy needs to be not so much like the weather [Wednesday] — dreary and hard to get around in.”

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Lydia Lentovich, Bangor

“Schools are getting their budgets cut. They’re doing a lot of road construction and I think the money could be spent in other places, maybe funding for schools.”

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Meredith Merrill, Etna

“[Things] are worse off, because of jobs. Even if you had two people [together] making minimum wage, they can’t make their rent [and] food. Those are the people who fall through the cracks and are really hurting, even if they’re responsible.”

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Robert Sawyer, Bangor

“There’s not a lot of spending that’s going on. They keep cutting back. I’d like to see something for the schools. There are probably going to be a lot of cutbacks in health and human services, and I don’t want to see that.”